Beating the “Blahs”

” ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS, FOR ONE DAY YOU MAY LOOK BACK AND REALIZE THEY WERE THE BIG THINGS.” Robert Brault in National Inquirer. I stared at the blank screen and notebook while attempting to start my NAMW Summer Workshop assignment for the week, building  the layers of thoughts,emotions,sensual details about my characters so as to know them better. I didn’t even know who I was going to write about. It seemed that a serious case of the “blahs” had taken up residence in my writer’s head. So I just went to bed and hoped that some inspiration from somewhere would kick the “blahs” out of my head when I awakened..I had work to do. It came in the form of a manuscript emailed this AM from my fellow writer friend...

Posted by on Jul 24, 2010 in character development, elements of story, Lifewriting Craft, memoir-writing | 6 comments

Keeping Up the Pace by Slowing Down..

“THE GREAT THING IN THIS WORLD IS NOT SO MUCH WHERE WE STAND BUT WHAT DIRECTION WE ARE MOVING”Oliver Wendall Holmes Sr I’m not a TV-watcher, but during my annual vacation with my family at our cottage on Keuka Lake, I do allow myself the luxury of sinking into the sectional with my son, daughter and son-in-law to watch mindless , random shows. This year the remote took us to a reality show,”I Shouldn’t Be Alive”..harrowing tales of survival against all odds. The person is narrating as actors reenact their close calls with grizzly bears, or being lost in the California mountains,etc. Even though we knew they survived, the suspense kept us all riveted to our seats. And when Dave, my son-in-law noted that the multiple...

Posted by on Jul 11, 2010 in building momentum, elements of story, Lifewriting Craft, memoir-writing | 6 comments